Molecules such as O.sub.2 can exist in different energy states depending upon the arrangement of the electrons about the nucleus. When the energy state of the molecule is above its usual ground state it is said to be in an excited state. One of the excited states for the oxygen molecule is the singlet molecular oxygen state generally identified by the symbol O.sub.2 (.sup.1 .DELTA.) or by the abbreviation O.sub.2 *.
Singlet molecular oxygen has utility when it is transferred to atomic iodine to produce a lasing species as discussed in Benard et al., "Applied Physics Letters," Vol. 34, pp. 40-43, 1979 and Richardson et al., "Applied Physics Letters," Vol. 35, pp. 138-139, 1979. An iodine laser that uses O.sub.2 * has potential application as a very high energy chemical laser which would have significant advantages over existing lasers as a result of the short wavelength (1.315 .mu.m) for the iodine laser. O.sub.2 * also is useful as a synthesizing reagent for making organic compounds and lately has been extensively studied because it is believed to be an important intermediate in many biological functions including biological defense against infection.
Early attempts at producing O.sub.2 * are reported in Kearns, "Chemical Reviews," Vol. 71, No. 4, pp. 395-411 and Foote et al., "J. Am. Chem. Soc.", Vol. 90, pp. 975-981, 1968, Shiblom, Jr., et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,762 and Pilipovich et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,950. Shiblom Jr, et al discloses an O.sub.2 * generator whose yield can be approximated by the amount of O.sub.2 * in natural oxygen in equilibrium with a hot reactor, whereas Pilipovich reacts a hypohalite selected from the group consisting of BrSO.sub.3 F, BrNO.sub.3, BrOCF.sub.3, ClSO.sub.3 F, CINO.sub.3, ClOCF.sub.3, FSO.sub.3, FOCF.sub.3, and ISO.sub.3 F, with hydrogen peroxide. Unfortunately, some of the hypohalites present stability problems which make their use difficult and some are extremely toxic.
O.sub.2 * has also been chemically generated with aqueous H.sub.2 O.sub.2 and Ca(OCl).sub.2. Such a method is not suitable for the gas phase generation of O.sub.2 * because the yields are low and the reagents are both solid and liquid making efficient mixing, feed control, and reactor control difficult to obtain.
The most successful method of producing O.sub.2 * involves Cl.sub.2, H.sub.2 O.sub.2 and NaOH as discussed in Benard, et al, and Richardson, et al, referenced above. However, NaOH is not sufficiently soluble in H.sub.2 O.sub.2 --H.sub.2 O mixtures to permit utilization of significant percentages of the H.sub.2 O.sub.2 in the O.sub.2 * generator. In addition, the quantity of NaCl produced in the reaction is not soluble in the H.sub.2 O.sub.2 --H.sub.2 O mixture and the solid NaCl that is formed is deleterious to the operation of the generator.